Damper-controller and automatic indicator



2 SheetsSheet '1.

(No Model.)

0. S. HOOD.

DAMPER CONTROLLER AND AUTOMATIC INDICATOR.

Patented Apr. 19,1898.

S E 1 S CL N n W (No Model.) 2 Sheet sSheet 2.

C. S. HOOD.

DAMPER CONTROLLER AND AUTOMATIC INDICATOR. No. 602,450. Patented Apr.19,1898.

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WITNESSES: INg/Elggl? I lUNrrn CYRUS S. HOOD, OF GORNING, NEIV YORK.

DAMPER-CONTROLLER AND AUTOMATIC INDICATOR.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent NO; 602,450, dated April19, 1898.

Application filed. May 21, 1897. Serial No. 637,643. (No model.)

To aZZ whom it ntay concern:

Be it known that I, CYRUS S. HOOD, a citizen of the United States,residing at Corning, in the county of Steuben and State of New York,have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Damper- Controllersand Automatic Indicators, of which the following is a specification.

My invention relates to improvements in heating systems wherein thevarious rooms of a building are warmed by means of a heated fluid passedthrough conducting-pipes which branch upward from a furnace or heaterlocated in the cellar or basement; and the objects of my improvementsare, first, to provide improved means for controlling any one of theregulating-dampers of the furnace or any one of the current-controllingdampers or valves, which are preferably located in the conducting-pipesnear the source of heat, not only from a switchboard located in acentral room or apartment, such as the sitting-room or commonliving-room, but also from the several other apartmentsirrespective oftheir positions relative to said central apartment; second, to soconstruct and arrange these damper or valve controlling connections thatany given damper or valve may be opened or closed or otherwise properlyadjusted either from the central apartment or from one of the otherapartments or in the basement at the damper or valve itself irrespectiveof how it has previously been set from any one of the apartments otherthan that from which at the time it is desired to accomplish theadjustment, and, third, to provide means by which the position of adamper or valve will be automatically indicated in all the apartments towhich the connections are run immediately upon adjusting the damper orvalve from any one of the apartments. I accomplish these objects by themechanism illustrated in the accompanying drawings, in which I haveshown my invention as applied to a hot-air furnace and heating system,and in which- Figure 1 represents an interior sectional view of abuilding provided with an air-heating system embodying my improvements;Fig. 2, a like view showing a modification in the arrangement of theparts of the device; Fig. 3, a detail in perspective, showing acontroller-rod mounted in a separate indicatingplate; and Fig. 4, asimilar detail showing a switchboard, with all the controllers mountedthereon, for use in the central controllingapartment.

Similar letters of reference indicate similar parts throughout theseveral views.

In the drawings, A and B indicate the vertical partition-walls of abuilding, and O and D the flooring.

E represents the basement, in which is located the furnace F, from whichthe fiues or conducting-pipes ff f, &c., lead to the several roomsabove.

G represents the central apartment or living-room from which it isdesired to control and regulate all the dampers, and H and I apartments,either adjacent thereto or remote therefrom, to which the hot-airconduits lead and from each of which apartments it is desired to controlthe damper belonging to that conduit which leads to that particularapartment.

The conduit f, leading to apartment I, has the flow of hot air throughit controlled by the opening and closing of a damper d, pivoted,preferably, in an enlargement in the conduit located in the cellar closeto the furnace for reasons well known and obvious to those skilled inthe art. The damper is provided with a weighted arm a, rigidly securedto an extension of its pivotal rod b, said arm being disposed at anangle to the damper, so as to normally maintain the damper in its closedposition. Attached to the arm a at a suitable distance from itspivot-point is a cord, chain,wire, or other motion-transmittingconnection c, which extends from said weighted arm overdirection-changing devices, such as pulleys e 6, up to the apartment I,into which the hot-air pipe discharges. This connection 0 I have shownheld in tension by a weight g,which in the present instance I havelocated at the extreme end of said connection, but which might belocated at any other suitable intermediate point in its length by meanssimilar to that shown at the left in Fig. 1 and hereinafter to be morefully described. This weight might obviously be replaced by a spring orother suitable tension device.

In the apartment I, preferably near the discharge-opening of conduit f,the connection ,weights g and n.

0 is provided with any suitable handle or projection h, extending outtherefrom through a vertical slot in a wall-plate 2', although theconnection 0 in a more crude form might be carried up outside the wallin an exposed position, so as to be grasped by the hand.

Attached to the weighted lever to at or near the point of attachment ofconnection 0 is a second similar connectionj, which leads to the centralcontrolling apartment G and which may be constructed precisely similarto the controlling device just described, but which I have chosen toshow as connected to the arm k of a bell-crank lever, which is pivotedat l and has the arm on provided with notches to hold in properadjustment the weight n. A third arm 0 extends out at right angles toarm is and carries at its end the rod p,which extends up verticallyin toapartment G,where it is provided with an operating-handle q. The rod inthe present instance extends up through a passage in the wall andterminates in a recess 1". This recess maybe covered by a wall-plateprovided with a vertical slot, through which the handle (1 projects,such a wall-plate being shown in Fig. 3 and being the same as thewall-plate described for apartment 1.

There will be as many conducting-pipes f leading from the furnace asthere are rooms or apartments to be heated in a given building, and eachpipe will have in it a damper similar to the one described, each damperbeing supplied with two controller connections, one connection leadingto the room the heat ing of which is regulated by that particular damperand the other leading to the central apartment. In this centralapartment then there will be a series of wall-plates andoperating-handles, similar to that shown in Fig. 3, located adjacenteach other in a convenient locality, or a single switchboard may beemplo'yed provided with the required number of vertical slots, or aboard similar to that shown in Fig. 4, by the use of which theconstruction is simplified and cheapened, since the controller-rods p p,&c., may then be brought up through the floor outside of the wallinstead of inside it, as in Fig. l.

In order to render this system operative, it is requisite that the pullof the draft-closing weight on arm a shall be approximately equal to thesum of the pulls exerted by the tension- This being the case, there isan equilibrium established, so that the operating-handles and the damperwill remain at rest in whatever position they are left, the friction inthe transmitting connections 0 and j being sufficient to maintain thisstate of rest so long as the proportion above is approximatelymaintained. In order toobtain readily this approximate equilibrium, Iprovide the bell-crank lever with the adjustable weight in the line ofone of the transmitting connections, preferably that leading to thecentral apartment.

To operate any given damper, it is obvious that by grasping either ofthe handles 72. or q or the weighted lever a, or, indeed, any part ofthe connections 0 or 3', and exerting sufficient power merely toovercome the friction of the parts, said damper will be opened orclosed, according to the direction of movement, and that said opening orclosing will be automatically indicated by the position of the handlerelative to the wall-plates. Thus, with the parts in the position shownin Fig. 1, if an upward movement is given to the damper-arm a thetension on connection 0 will be relieved and the weight g will descend,causing an upward movement in handle h, and similarly the same movementwill cause a relief of tension in connection j, which will permit thebell-crank lever to assume the position indicated by broken linesthrough the influence of weight n, and the rod 19, with its handleq,will be raised to a correspondingupper position.

In order that the condition of a given damper may be perfectly obviousto those unfamiliar with the operation of the mechanism involved, thewall-plates at top and bottom will be marked with words, as On and Off,to indicate in which direction to move the handles, also to show by theposition of the handles relative to said marks the position of thedampers at any time. Also at the central switch-board, in addition tothese positionmarks, each handle or the board adjacent to each handlewill be engraved or otherwise inscribed with the name or initial of theroom the damper for which is controlled by such handle-thus P forparlor, D for diningroom, P O for chamber or parlor, 8:0. In Fig. 3 ahandle is shown in the form of the initial letter P, and other initialletters may also be formed in the handles in the same way.

As it requires some care to perfectly balance a controlling system suchas described above, I have shown in Fig. 2 a modification whichsimplifies and cheapens the construction, although I prefer theperfectly-balanced system first described. Since the connections 0, &c.,leading to the difierent portions of a building vary much in length, thetensionweights ought also to vary in size to correspond to the differentweights of the connections; but by means of the construction now to bedescribed I render this difference immaterial, it only being requisitethat the two weights on the connections shall approximatelycounterbalance the weight on the damper-arm a. We will suppose thatafter the system is coupled up it is found that the weight on the arm a,Fig. 2, overbalances the weights g and n, tending to keep them always inelevated position and the damper closed. Then by use of recessedwall-plates 8, provided with hooks t 1, set back from the vertical lineof the connections, and suitable rings it upon the connections, adaptedto engage said hooks, the damper may be set and held in any positionfrom either of the rooms ICS G or I. Thus suppose the damper is to bemanipulated from I. The ring a will be drawn up, say, to the first hookt, which will open the damper half-way. The ring is then pressed in andhooked onto the hook, the downward pull on the connection holding it inplace. The ring on the connection in room G will be drawn up acorresponding distance by weight 11, since the connection j is relievedof the weight of arm a. If it is now desired to manipulate the damperfrom room G, it is only necessary to raise the connection j slightly,this movement raising arm a and relieving connection 0' of its weight.The weight g will then pull ring to of connection 0 off its hook and theconnection j is left free to move the damper in either direction. Itwill be seen from this how the damper can be manipulated from eitherapartment irrespective of how it has been previously set in one of them.In this way with weights of a given size this system can be installedwithout the counterbalancing adjustment, it only being requisite thatthe weights g and n, 850., shall outweigh their respective connectionsand that their sum shall approximately equal the weighted damper-arm tomake the system easily operative.

The advantages of this double-controller and automatic-indicator systemwill be at once obvious. Thus the heat may be turned on or off. fromapartment I by operating the controller in that apartment, and when soturned on or off may be again turned off or on in apartment G, and viceversa, and each operation,in whichever apartment performed, will beautomatically indicated in the other.

It will be understood that the damper or valve may be weighted so thatit will normally remain open if not counterbalanced by the elements ofthe controller mechanism, it only being essential that there shall beseparate counterbalancing means acting on the connections and on thevalve,that theyact in opposition, and that they be so proportioned andcoordinated that the sum of their pulls upon the valve shall approximatezero, for this is all that is essential to maintain the entire systemnormally at rest, but under a tension which will cause a correlatedmovement in all the parts when the equilibrium is destroyed by theapplication of force at any point in the system.

While I have described my invention as applied to hot-air systems, I donot wish to be understood as confining myself to this application of it,as it may with equally good results be applied to control the flow ofother heating fluids, whether gaseous or liquid. It will also be seenthat my controller system may be applied to the furnace or heaterdampers as well as to the conduit dampers or valves and that more thantwo connections may be used if it should be desired to control any onedamper from more than two points in a building.

ready been devised in which a damper has been operated by doubleconnections leading to difierent apartments of a building, also that adamper has been operated by a single counterbalanced connection leadingto difierent floors of a building, and that such a controller has alsobeen utilized to indicate the position of the damper, and I do not claimthese things broadly.

What I claim as my invention, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is

1. In a heating system, the combination, with a regulating valve ordamper, of two sep arate motion-transmitting connections, one of saidconnections leading to a central point of control and the otherconnection leading to a point of control remote from the first, meansfor holding the connections in tension whereby when either one of theconnections is operated in either direction to adjust the valve ordamper a corresponding movement is imparted to the other connection, anda wallplate or other device at each point of control which by therelative position of the connection thereto forms an indicator to showthe position of the valve or damper substantially as described.

2. In a heating system, the combination, with a weight-operated valve ordamper, of two motion-transmitting connections, one of said connectionsleading to a central point of control and the other connection leadingto a second point of control remote from the first, weights attached tothe connections to hold them in tension, the combined effects of saidweights being opposed to and approximately equal to the weight operatingupon said valve or damper, operating-handholds on the connections at thepoints of control, and a wallplate or other device at each point ofcontrol which by the relative position of the connection thereto formsan indicator to show the position of the valve or damper substantiallyas described. I

3. In a heating system, the combination, with a weight-operated valve ordamper, of two motion-transmitting connections, one of said connectionsleading to a central point of control and the other connection leadingto a second point of control remote from the first, weights attached tothe connections to hold them in tension, means for adjusting the pull ofone of said weights whereby the combined effect of the twoconnection-weights is rendered approximately equal to that of the valveor damper weight and an equilibrium of the parts established for thepurpose set forth, operating-handholds on the connections at the pointsof control, and a wall-plate or other device at each point of controlwhich by the relative position of the connection thereto forms anindicator to show the position of the valve or damper substantially asdescribed.

4. In a heating system, the combination, with a weight-operated valve ordamper, of two motion-transmitting connections, one of I am aware thatcontroller systems have alsaid connections leading to a central point ofcontrol, and the other connection leading to a point remote from thefirst, weights attached to the connections to hold them in tension, abell-crank lever in the line of one of the connections to the horizontalarm of which one of said weights is movably attached, a third arm onsaid lever, a rod coupled to said arm and extending upward to one of thepoints of control, operating-handholds on the connections at the pointsof control and a Wall-plate or other device at each point of controlwhich by the relative position of the connection thereto forms anindicator to show the position of the valve or damper substantially asdescribed.

5. In a heating system, the combination,

with a weight-operated valve or damper, of a motion transmittingconnection, said connection leading to a central point of control, abell-crank lever in the line of said connection, to the horizontal armof which a weight is movably attached, a third arm on said lever, a rodcoupled to said arm and extending upward to the point of control, and anoperating-handhold on the connection at the point of controlsubstantially as described.

Signed in the presence of tWo subscribing witnesses this 22d day ofApril, 1897.

CYRUS S. HOOD. lVitnesses:

ED HOOD, S. B. MILLARD.

